Jazz and Improvised

The Senator – A Tribute to Tommy Banks
Hutchison Andrew Trio
Chronograph Records CR 100 (hatjazz.com)

Tommy Banks packed many accomplishments into his 81 years. He was a conductor, arranger, pianist, television personality and a member of the Canadian Senate from 2000 to 2011. The Senator is named after his political life but pays tribute to his music and how he inspired and influenced a younger generation of musicians. The members of the Hutchinson Andrew Trio (Chris Andrew, piano; Kodi Hutchinson, bass; Dave Laing, drums) all had a personal relationship to Banks, as did the “special guests” PJ Perry, Al Muirhead and Mallory Chipman, and these connections invigorate their performances. 

Highlights of the album include a bouncy version of Jig (a tune played and recorded by Banks) and Bank on It, written by Chris Andrew as a grooving bop tribute from one pianist to another. The Senator is a delightful undertaking that pays tribute to Banks› music legacy and reminds us of this important musician. It was recorded live over two nights at the Yardbird Suite in Edmonton, on what would have been Banks› 85th birthday, and that adds to the sense of celebration.

Éclipse
Aline Homzy
Elastic Recordings ER-009 (alinehomzy.com)

An award-winning Canadian violinist and composer, Aline Homzy is no stranger to the exploration of the unknown and this is precisely what she does with her debut album Éclipse. The world of Éclipse is elegant, nuanced and enigmatic, sparking a curiosity in the listener. Homzy and her Étoile Magique colleagues are set on capturing the enigma of incorporeality in their music, translating visual/physical shifts, such as movements of the celestial bodies, into an aural one. Thus we have the world built on the cosmos like textures using synths, theremin and the colours of vibraphone, creating a sonic background for our imagination. In that world, Homzy’s violin is both the guide and the explorer – her balanced sound and impeccable phrasing transversing beauty and etherealness but not shying away from bold gestures or rhythmic complexity.

In addition to the explorative elements, Éclipse is still very much rooted in the jazz violin tradition and many arrangements are within the classic jazz structure. Ten original tunes by Homzy and vibraphonist Michael Davidson cultivate the best of that tradition while leaving a mark of their own. The rest of the core ensemble, consisting of guitarist Thom Gill, bassist Dan Fortin and percussionist Marito Marques, forms a tight-knit group. Their own solos, most notably by Fortin in the only cover on the album – Charlie Parker’s Segment – are charming and engaging. With such a clear compositional direction and sophisticated performers, this album will be noted by many.

Plays Long
Longhand
Drip Audio DA 02040 (dripaudio.com)

Josh Zubot Strings
Josh Zubot; Jesse Zubot; James Meger; Meredith Bates; Peggy Lee
Drip Audio DA02420 (dripaudio.com)

Emad Armoush’s Duos
Emad Armoush; Francois Houle; Jesse Zubot; JP Carter; Kenton Loewen; Marina Hasselberg
Drip Audio DA02392 (dripaudio.com)

Dividing his time among record production, film scoring and running the Drip Audio record label, British Columbia-based violinist Jesse Zubot finds time to play music. Fittingly for someone whose productions include pop and ethnic sounds, each of these sessions features different styles. On Longhand’s Play Long, he joins guitarist Tony Wilson’s jazz-rock fusion band featuring Russell Sholberg, playing bass and musical saw, percussionist Skye Brooks and Jesse’s brother Josh Zubot on violin. When the brothers become twin Jean-Luc Pontys, expositions are torqued to arena-rock distortion, especially when Wilson’s effects pedals produce stomps and buzzing tones. A bass groove and drum backbeat contribute as well. However when the violinists match Wilson’s kalimba colouration with gentleness and folksy bounces as on The Exotic Popsicle narratives are lightened. Chicken Grease is the most notable instance of moderated fusion. Here a moderated bass solo gives way to multiple-string shudders from the violinists and chiming chords from Wilson, leading to a theme with a pop music interface, but recapped enough to emphasize jazz tradition links. 

Josh Zubot, playing viola and violin, is the leader on Strings. Interpreting his jazz-improv compositions are cellist Peggy Lee; bassist James Meger; Meredith Bates playing violin/viola and brother Jesse on violian. Uniquely constituting this string quintet, Zubot’s arrangements include a few traditional sounding and mostly pastoral tutti themes and those ricocheting between Arcadian and avant-garde passages which divide the strings into soloists with sympathetic backing. Beach and Car is notable since it’s a suite of three separate sections in fewer than six and a half minutes. Beginning with pleasant swing it moves up the scale as a violinist’s broken-chord stops are backed by double bass thumps. Slowing to mid-range, the piece climaxes with a contrapuntal do-si-do involving the lower-pitched strings’ watery textures and the higher pitched ones’ aviary squeaks before a full band ending. Multiple tracks vibrate in tempos ranging from andante to prestissimo, with the two Explorations the freest ones, highlighting harsh bow strokes and col legno string scratches. Other tunes invoke flat line minimalism, some almost romantic formalism, while others feature the closest to a martial beat string plyers can attain. With three violinists, it’s only on Augur 44 when the others play violas, that Jesse Zubot’s contributions stand out. Turning spiccato squeaks every which way after introducing a hoedown-like theme, the other musicians then add Eastern European-like presto slides. Tension from Zubot’s string jumping doesn’t upset the narrative’s unfolding, since pressure is released first by a mellow tutti interlude and later by slapped and sliding asides from the bassist and cellist. 

Jesse Zubot is one of the Vancouver players duetting with Syrian-born local Emad Armoush, who plays oud, ney, guitar and vocalizes on Electritradition. Some tracks are a little too close to ethnic music, but when Armoush partners with experienced improvisers the result is a dramatic blend of West Coast and Middle East. Zubot’s spiccato slides and buzzes seem more accompaniment than point making when he plays. More notable are duets with Kenton Loewen which refine Levantine lyrics and drum beats. Loewen’s rough accents on Talah create tandem progression with Armoush’s guitar twangs; and this toughness is intensified on Hey Free Bop as clashing ruffs make ney peeps almost swing. Clenched guitar picking on Flamenco Strut emphasizes the title’s second word as trumpeter JP Carter’s strained triplets create a Middle-Eastern blues. Equivalent brass shakes and toneless breaths on Labshi mean that Armoush’s percussive picking combines the free improv as well as the traditional music world.

String oriented, but not string exclusive, these discs confirm that unprecedented sounds are being created and recorded in British Columbia.

Cry Me a River
Hilario Durán and his Latin Jazz Big Band
Alma Records ACD90832 (almarecords.com)

A sign of a truly great musician is the ability to not only capture the attention of the listener from the first note, but also to maintain that same level of rapture throughout an entire recording. Renowned pianist Hilario Durán’s long-awaited Latin big band album does just that, it captivates and thoroughly ensnares within the sizzling melodies and rhythms of these tunes. The mix of original compositions and covers with an interesting and refreshing twinge make for an ear-pleasing whole that is as vibrantly expressive and joyful as the changing colours of the autumn leaves. 

A defining element of this album is the way in which Durán’s improvisational and genre-crossing talents are highlighted within each piece. It’s absolutely enthralling to listen to how the star pianist throws in his own flavour to well-known jazz standards such as Dizzy Gillespie’s A Night in Tunisia, which takes on decidedly more Latin flavour, adding a renewed element energy and passion to the classic tune. Rhythmic grooves and scorching melodies interspersed with Durán’s prolific improvisational riffs create a delicious musical potpourri that will fill the soul and body of listeners. The bandleader hops between genres and bends pieces to his will, jumping from traditional jazz to modern and even funk with the utmost ease. Featuring a roster of great musicians such as Luis Mario Ochoa on guitar, Elizabeth Rodríguez on violin and Roberto Occhipinti on bass, this is a must-have for any jazz-lover’s collection.